Toy boat and simulated electric outboard motor



Sept. 15, 1970 J. COOPER 3,528,195

' I TOY BOAT AND SIMULATED OUTBOARD MOTOR Filed July 30, 1968 2 Sheets-Sneak 1 INVENTOR JUA IV) COOP'Q ATTORNEY Sept. 15, 1970 1 J. COOPER 3,

Q TOY BOAT ANDVSIMULATED ELECTRIC OUTBOARD MOTOR I Filed July so, 1968 2 Sheets- Sheet 2 INVENTOR J04 a5 Cap/ ie ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,528,195 TOY BOAT AND SEMULATED ELECTRIC OUTBOARD MOTOR Julius Cooper, New Hyde Park, N.Y., assignor to Ideal Toy Corporation, Hollis, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed July 30, 1968, Ser. No. 748,876 Int. Cl. A63h 33/26, 23/04 U.S. Cl. 46-243 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates generally to toys, and more particularly to an improved battery-operated toy boat.

Battery-operated toys, particularly boats, have such established play value as to constitute staples in the product line of many manufacturers. As such, there is a continuing effort by those in the toy industry to provide improvements which increase the realism and thus the play value of the toy boat or which decrease the costs of production. Rarely can both objectives be achieved since realism in the toy invariably involves molding the boat with current, popular structural features and this, in turn, requires correspondingly complicated production equipment.

Broadly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved toy boat overcoming the foregoing and other shortcomings of the prior art, wherein the improvements contribute both to realism of the toy and also lessen production costs. Specifically, it is an object to provide a toy boat in which the usual main switch of the battery energization circuit is eliminated, a feature which obviously has no counterpart in actual boat (at least not in the size scale found on toy boats) and which, by its omis sion, reduces production costs.

A toy boat demonstrating objects and advantages of the present invention includes a hull serving as a battery storage compartment and having an energization circuit formed with a normally open pair of switch contacts. The boat motor is pivotally mounted on the hull in a position relative to the switch contacts such that a switch-closing member thereon is operatively effective, in a boat-powering position of the motor, to close the switch contacts, complete the energization circuit and thereby result in operation of the motor so as to power the boat in motion. In a clearance position of the motor, however, the energization circuit is opened and the operation of the motor terminated.

The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully appreciated by reference to the following detailed description of a presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiment in accordance with the present invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded elevational view of a toy boat and simulated outboard motor;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the toy boat and motor in assembled condition;

FIG. 3 is a partial elevational view, in section, of the motor in its assembled position on the boat hull illustrating further structural features, particularly of the battery energization circuit for the motor;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view similar to FIG. 3 but illustrating the motor in a raised tilted position relative to the boat hull; and

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FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view similar to FIG. 3, with portions broken away to illustrate further structural features.

Reference is now made to the drawings wherein there is shown a toy boat 10 to which there is attached a batteryoperated motor 12 having an external appearance simulating a conventional outboard motor. As may be readily appreciated from a consideration of FIGS. 1 and 2, motor 12 is readily mounted or assembled to the rear wall of the boat 10 and in its assembled condition, all as clearly illustrated in FIGS. 35, can occupy an essentially vertical position, as illustrated in FIGS. 3, 5, in which it effectively powers the boat 10 in motion, or it can occupy a tilted or inclined position, as illustrated in FIG. 4, in which it is not operated by its battery power source. The significance of the two motor positions will soon be apparent.

Boat 10 is advantageously provided with an external appearance of any one of numerous conventional outboard motor boats and includes a conventional hull 1041 having an appropriately shaped bow 10b and a rear wall at its stern which supports the motor 12. The hull 10a-c, in the illustrated embodiment, bounds a compartment 10d, the rear portion of which adjacent the wall 100 is advantageously used for storage of batteries B which serve as the power source for the motor 12. Specifically, in the portion of compartment 10d adjacent the wall 100 there is provided a battery cradle consisting of an elongated battery contact 14- appropriately secured to the bottom wall of the hull 10a, as by having the lower end forced fit in an opening provided in this wall. Opposite this battery contact 14 are a pair of spaced apart left and right battery contacts 16a and 161; which each are appropri ately secured to the inner surface of the rear wall 10c and which each terminate in upper switch contacts 18a and 18b, respectively. As best understood from a comparison of FIGS. 2 and 5, the hull rear wall 100 has a medial section 10e which is located between the switch contacts 18a, 18b and has a mounting hole 20 of an appropriate size to accommodate in a sliding fit therein a depending mounting pin 22 of the motor 12 to thereby complete the assembly of the motor 12 to the rear wall 10c. The sliding fit between the pin 22 and the hole 20 allows the motor 12 to be pivoted about a vertical axis so that the boat can be steered in the manner normal for an outboard motor boat.

Referring now specifically to the construction of the motor -12, this component, as already noted, has an outer casing, generally designated 12a, which is appropriately moulded so as to have an appearance simulating the appearance of a conventional full-sized outboard motor. For brevity sake, the internal construction of the motor 12 will only be generally described since it is conventional and only the structural features which contribute to the invention will be described in detail. Motor 12 includes within the upper portion of the outer casing 12a an appropriately mounted motor 24 of the type normally powered by batteries B. Depending from the motor 24 is a drive shaft 26 having a gear 28 thereon in meshing engagement with an upper gear 30 of a driven shaft 32. A lower gear 34 on the driven shaft 32 meshes with a gear 36 of a propeller shaft 38 appropriately journaled for rotation in the lower portion of the motor housing 12a and having on its laterally extending end a propeller 40 which, when driven in rotation, functions in a well undetrstood manner to power the boat in motion.

It will be noted that the previously noted mounting pin 22 depends from a horizontally oriented leg 42a of an L- shaped member 42, the other leg 42b of which is pivoted, as at 44, to the motor outer casing 12. As a consequence, the motor 12 is pivotal about the axis 44 through a range of positions, one extreme position being the vertical posi- 3 tion illustrated in FIGS. 3, 5 which is the boat-powering position of the motor 12, and the other extreme position of which, as illustrated in FIG. 4, is a raised tilted position in which the motor is inoperative and the propeller 40 is not powered in rotation.

Specifically, to achieve the foregoing selective powering of the motor 12 only when it is in its just noted boat-powering vertical position there is provided a pair of spaced electrically conductive elements 46 and 48 which will be understood to be electrically connected to the motor 24 and each of which is further supported on the motor housing 12a so that each is strategically located relative to each of the switch contacts 18a and 18b. That is, element 46 is operatively arranged on the motor casing 12a so that in the boat-powering position of the motor 12 physical contact is made by element 46 with the switch contact 18a. Similarly, at this same time element 48 also makes contact with switch contact 18b. As a consequence, the electrical circuit is completed between the batteries B and the motor 24 such that the batteries effectively serve as a power source resulting in operation of the motor 24 which in turn produces rotation of the propeller 40. As may be seen in FIG. 2, the contact arrangements are such that the completed electrical circuit is maintained when the motor 12 is turned to vary the steering of the boat 10.

Upon movement of the motor 12, however, from its boat-powering position into the raised tilted position of FIG. 4, the elements 46, 48 are moved out of contact with the switch contacts 18a and 18b; thus this switch is opened and the motor 24 disconnected from the batteries B. This naturally results in termination of the operation of the motor 24 and of the propeller 40. In this manner, positions of movement of the motor 12 control its operation and the motor is operative only when it occupies an essentially vertically oriented position such as is required to effectively power the boat in movement.

A latitude of modification, change and substitution is intended in the foregoing disclosure and in some instances some features of the invention will be employed without a corresponding use of other features. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the spirit and scope of the invention herein.

What is claimed is:

1. A toy boat comprising a hull including a rear wall defining a battery storage compartment for at least one battery, a normally open pair of switch contacts of an electrical circuit electrically associated with said battery operatively disposed adjacent said rear wall, a battery operated motor assembly including an electric motor movably mounted on said rear wall for movement between a raised inoperative position and a lowered boat-powering position, and switch-closing means carried by said motor assembly and electrically connected to said electric motor operatively effective to electrically close said switch contacts and complete an electric circuit between said bat- 4 tery and said electric motor when said motor assembly is moved to its lowered boat-powering position.

2. A toy boat as defined in claim 1 wherein said switch contacts are arranged in spaced relation on said rear wall and said motor assembly is pivotally connected to a support adapted to be accommodated in an opening in said rear wall located between said switch contacts.

3. A toy boat as defined in claim 2 wherein said switchclosing means on said motor assembly comprises an electrically conductive means so located thereon as to make physical contact with said switch contacts.

4. A toy boat as defined in claim 1 wherein said motor assembly is movable about a substantially vertical axis with said switch closing means effectively maintaining said electric circuit for powering said toy boat in selected variable directions.

5. A toy boat comprising a hull including a rear wall defining a battery storage compartment for at least one battery, a normally opened pair of switch contacts of an electrical circuit electrically associated with said battery operatively disposed adjacent said rear wall, a battery operated motor assembly including an electric motor pivotally mounted on a depending support operatively assembled to said wall, said assembled motor assembly being movable through a pivotal traverse between a raised inoperative position and a lowered boat-powering position, and an electrically conductive means carried by said motor assembly electrically connected to said electric motor and operatively effective to electrically close such switch contacts and complete an electric circuit between said battery and said electric motor in said boat-powering position of said motor assembly.

6. A toy boat as defined in claim 5 wherein said switch contacts are arranged in spaced relation on said rear wall and said support is accommodated in an opening in said wall located between said switch contacts.

7. A toy boat as defined in claim 6 wherein said electrically conductive means on said motor assembly comprises a pair of spaced contacts so located thereon that each said contact makes physical contact with one of said switch contacts.

8. A toy boat as defined in claim 5 wherein said motor assembly is pivotable about a substantially vertical axis While maintaining said electric circuit to power said boat in variable directions.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,940,552 12/1933 Le Page 46-243 3,307,290 3/1967 Pederson 46243 X LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner R. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 46-93 

